Freya Ridings first garnered attention with her poignant ballad Lost Without You, which reached the top 10 in 2018.
While the vibrant intensity of Freya Ridings' recent singles may evoke images of a fierce medieval army, it does not reflect the reality of her journey. Initially, the recording sessions brought the singer-songwriter to a low point, overwhelmed with anxiety and self-doubt.
"I was questioning and doubting myself more than I ever had," she confides to BBC News. "I was actually having panic attacks in the studio... but I was determined to write my way out of it."
This struggle with confidence was instigated by her previous album, Blood Orange. After gaining prominence with her Brit Award-nominated debut in 2017, celebrated for her emotive and clear vocals on tracks like Lost Without You and the upbeat anthem Castles, Ridings felt compelled to collaborate with renowned producers for the subsequent project.
"I hated it," she admits. "It wasn't my choice to be with those people." Reflecting on her experience, she acknowledges that the recording environment was heavily "masculine-dominated," which inhibited her ability to "open up and be vulnerable."
"I got hammered a little bit. It kind of broke my spirit."
Adding to the challenges, her record label underwent significant change during the pandemic, resulting in the departure of individuals who had been instrumental in supporting her first album. Furthermore, her relationship with her manager deteriorated, leading her to describe the situation as "toxic." Although she takes pride in songs like Weekends and Face in the Crowd, she acknowledges that she made concessions that clashed with her artistic vision.
"I felt petrified because other people were petrified for me," she reflects. "It wore me down to the point where I was like, 'Sure, maybe you do know better than me.' But as an artist, that just can't be true, because if you're being authentic and that's what's connecting with people, anything in between just gets in the way."
Despite Blood Orange becoming a Top 10 hit in early 2023, it quickly faded from the charts within a week, leading to her being dropped by her label. Ridings shared this news with her fans during an Instagram live broadcast amid what she describes as a "full-on breakdown." "I was falling through the cracks," she explains, "but my fans caught me." In the absence of a label and funding, she independently sold out a 32-date European tour.
'I Knew I Had to Get on That Plane'
However, her challenges were far from over.
As she began to conceptualize new music, Ridings sought to collaborate with Jen Decilveo, the American producer known for Hozier's Francesca—a song she considers one of her favorites. Her manager not only discouraged the project but also neglected to inform her that Decilveo had expressed interest in working with her.
It was at this juncture that Ridings recognized the necessity of regaining control over her career. "So I paid for my own ticket and I got on the plane anyway. I was crapping myself," she shares with a laugh. "I felt scared, like a naughty schoolchild, because this was the first time in a long time where I hadn't done exactly what I was told. But I lit up. It was like I was possessed. I knew I had to get on that plane."
Motivated by this act of autonomy, Ridings spent a year in Los Angeles, dedicating herself to writing and recovering from her previous struggles. "I didn't really have the money to do that, but I was determined. I still believed there was something here. It wasn't dead, and I wanted it to grow back."
The song that illuminated her path back was Euphoria, a powerful anthem reflecting self-belief, where Ridings expresses "the rage in my heart as red as my hair." "I was stuck and trapped, but I was like, 'Who would I want to be right now?'" she recounts, alluding to the character she drew upon from her Celtic lineage. "If anything, I was trying to convince myself of the confidence that I once had so effortlessly."
This theme of resilience is prevalent throughout the album. "I let you shake my faith, but not any more / You're gonna hear my name like a thunderstorm," she proclaims on Wild Horse, embodying the formidable presence akin to Florence + The Machine at their most elemental.
On the finale track, Strength In Me, she repeatedly asserts, "I know I'm gonna survive this," as the music escalates to a thrilling climax. "There's a theme, Mark! There's a massive theme," she underscores. "A lot of these songs were rebellions. I used them to rebuild myself, piece by piece, brick by brick."
Returning to her roots, Ridings performed works-in-progress at intimate café shows in LA, utilizing audience feedback to refine her songs before re-entering the studio. Attendees of those performances will recognize that she hasn't completely deviated from her penchant for heartfelt ballads.
The album features standout tracks like the poignant piano piece RUOK, where she reaches out to a friend in distress, and the tenderly crafted I Have Always Loved You, which reflects on two friends juxtaposing their feelings and timing. One especially notable song narrates the love story of her parents—playwright Cathy Jansen-Ridings and voice actor Richard Ridings—detailing how they first met.
"It's like folklore in our family; we know every single phrase of that story," she explains. Set in Coventry, 1983, the tale unfolds as her father performs a one-man show and her mother, nearly choosing to skip after her friends canceled, decides to attend. "She decided to go, because she's got moxie," Ridings adds. "It was a very small theatre, and when dad heard her laugh, he thought, 'There's sunshine coming out of the crowd.’ He knew right then, 'This is my wife.'"
Her parents continue to share a deep bond, and the family remains incredibly close-knit. Ridings, who has dyslexia, often collaborates with her mother to transform her spontaneous thoughts into song lyrics.
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